Planters Punchlines
Men’s Garden Club of Wethersfield
October 2014
Next Meeting - Monday October 27th @ 7:00 p.m.
Our speaker is Tedd Somes, volunteer coordinator for the
Chrysalis Center – a non-profit with units at both the Rocky Hill and Newington
VA facilities. He will speak about the
organization’s plans to create a ˜food forest” that will include berry bushes,
nut and fruit trees and other raised bed gardens at their new facility at 815
Wethersfield Avenue in Hartford – and how we and other gardeners can be of
help.
Mark Your Calendar:
Saturday November 22: Put the Weston Rose Garden to Bed.
Monday
December 1st: Holiday Party @ the Solomon Welles House.
What is Edible Forest Gardening?
Excerpted from http://www.edibleforestgardens.com
Edible forest
gardening is the art and science of putting plants together in woodland-like
patterns that forge mutually beneficial relationships, creating a garden
ecosystem that is more than the sum of its parts. You can grow fruits, nuts,
vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, other useful plants, and animals in a way that
mimics natural ecosystems. You can create a beautiful, diverse, high-yield
garden. If designed with care and deep understanding of ecosystem function, you
can also design a garden that is largely self-maintaining.
Anyone with a
patch of land can grow a forest garden. They've been created in small urban
yards and large parks, on suburban lots, and in small plots of rural farms. The
smallest we have seen was a 30 by 50 foot (9 by 15 m) embankment behind an
urban housing project, and smaller versions are definitely possible. The
largest we have seen spanned 2 acres in a rural research garden. Forest
gardeners are doing their thing at 7,000 feet (2,100 m) of elevation in the
Rocky Mountains, on the coastal plain of the mid-Atlantic, and in chilly New
Hampshire and Vermont. Forest gardening has a long history in the tropics,
where there is evidence of the practice extending over 1,500 years. While you
can grow a forest garden in almost any climate, it is easiest if you do it in a
region where the native vegetation is forest, especially deciduous forest.
Compostable Matter
By Jim Meehan (originally written November 2010)
I once worked
for a guy who liked to speak in metaphors -- especially when he was giving bad
news.
One time he
was being hectored about the lack of progress we were making on a low-priority
piece of work that happened to be the kvetch's pet project.
"Exactly
when can I expect to see this task completed?"
"The
leaves will come. And the leaves will go. And the leaves will come again."
my manager responded. There was a clearly implied "and so on".
For years I
thought that answer was the perfect definition of "never". I also
believed the passage of time was linear. That, as Saint Augustine said,
"human experience is a one-way journey from Genesis to Judgment,
regardless of any recurring patterns or cycles in nature."
However not
everyone believes that time marches in even increments along a straight line.
Native
Americans, Australian aborigines and others conceive of time as circular -- a
repetitive process that nonetheless creates infinite possibilities and unique
situations and results. Stories and sentences frequently circle back on
themselves, with repetition used to arrive back at the same point in time from
which the speaker started. Some languages use the same word to mean both
"soon" and "recent".
Leslie Marmon
Silko, a Native American author, says:
“The Pueblo
people and the indigenous people of the Americas see time as round, not as a
long linear string. If time is round, if time is an ocean, then something that
happened 500 years ago may be quite immediate and real, whereas something
inconsequential that happened an hour ago could be far away.”
I had heard
about this non-sequential view of time. It even seemed kind of cool in a New
Agey kind of way. But I never could really understand what it could possibly
mean. Then Mars and I became the owners of a house on a piece of property
bordered by several deciduous trees.
We moved into
our new abode in the spring, after the leaves had come. Seven months later they
went from the branches to the front lawn. Then they went (with lots of effort)
from the front lawn to the curb. And then they went into the bowels of our
town's long-funneled, truck-mounted, leaf collection machinery (aka Mr.
Snuffleupagus).
About one week
and two swirling windstorms later, they came again.
And again they
went -- this time into the mulching blade of my gasoline-powered lawn mower.
And again they
came -- and again -- et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Ultimately the
supply of leafage dwindled down to a precious few – luckily at about the same
time that my interest in de-leafing also ran out. The seemingly never-ending
ritual was actually over. Then the next autumn came. And the one after
that,....
But one fall
season, a few years ago, I actually thought for a moment that the cycle had
been broken.
My perception
of the situation was probably warped because I got an earlier than usual start
on the rake-to-the-curb routine. The weather was warm, time was available, the
leaves were down, and my energy was up. As a result I delivered my first
shipment of foliage to the roadside a week or so before the earliest possible
scheduled pickup date. Because of this, when the leaves came again (as they did
two days later), I felt as if I was merely doing minimal mop-ups - even though
I actually partook in four, full-blown, full-lawn cleanups before the cycle
ceased and the Snuffleupagus did its thing.
The lawn was
then clear for several days. But within a week there was sufficient leaf cover
to warrant a walkabout with the mulching mower. Almost fourteen days later, it
was again time to fire up either the calorie-burning rake or the
carbon-emitting compost-creator for one more spin around my property. Proving, once more that, “the leaves will
come. And the leaves will go. And the leaves will come again.”
Up to the
nineteenth century both Science and Philosophy agreed with me that time is
linear.
“However, in
the twentieth century, Gödel and others discovered solutions to the equations
of Einstein's general theory of relativity that allowed closed loops of proper
time...[which would] allow you to go forward continuously in time until you
arrive back into your past. You will become your younger self in the future.”
(Time Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
In other
words, the passage of time could be circular.
But scientists
say they’re not sure of that either. “As
far as we can tell today, our universe does not exemplify any of these
solutions to Einstein's equations.” (Ibid)
Except of
course for those of us with deciduous trees.
Top Fall Blooming Flowers for the Perennial Garden
Keeping Your Perennial Garden Glorious into Fall
with
Fall Plants
By Marie Iannotti (gardening.about.com)
The trick to
designing your garden with perennial flowers is making sure you have something
wonderful in bloom all the time. Each season has its stars and fall flowering
perennials have some of the best. Fall flowers have all season to grow, so many
of them are tall and stately. Fall bloomers also tend to blossom in the jewel
tones of the season, deep purples, rusts, scarlet and gold. For fall bloomers
to be hardy in your garden, you need to plant and establish them earlier in the
season. Here are some top picks for fall blooming perennial stars.
1. Aster
novi-belgii (Michaelmas Daisy): In shades of pink, purple, blue and white,
these delicate daisy-like blossoms start popping open in late August and
continue on until frost. Pinching in the early summer turns these Asters into
mounds with dozens of flower buds.
Asters will
tend to creep throughout your garden, but their airiness allows them to blend
particularly well with other flowers. USDA Hardiness Zones 4 - 9
2. Caryopteris
(Blue Mist Shrub): Caryopteris is a sub-shrub that is often grown in the
perennial garden. Caryopteris slowly blossoms in August with dazzling blue
flower clusters. Just try and keep the butterflies and bees away. Caryopteris
is cut back in early spring, like a Buddleia, and the gray-green foliage is
attractive all season. USDA Hardiness Zones 5 - 9
3. Chelone
(Turtlehead): Nick-named for their blossoms shaped like turtles heads, Chelone
is a carefree fall blooming perennial whose only real dislike is excessive dry
heat. Chelone behaves itself, growing in a dense clump with attractive foliage
and red, pink or white blooms. USDA Hardiness Zones 2 - 9
4.
Chrysanthemum: There are many varieties of mums, not all particularly hardy.
The plants sold in the fall as 'Hardy Mums' should have been sold to us in the
spring, to be reliably hardy in the north. However we wouldn't have had the
patience to plant them and wait. Mums and pumpkins are the flag bearers of
fall. Try and get your potted mums in the ground ASAP. Keep them well watered
and mulch once the ground freezes and you'll stand your best chance of having
truly hardy mums. USDA Hardiness Zones 3 - 9
5. Eupatorium
(Joe Pye Weed): Joe Pye is one of those native plants we take for granted
because we see it by the side of the road, but it makes a wonderful backdrop to
a garden border. The newer Eupatoriums have been bred shorter and less weedy
but the dense mop heads of mauve flowers still blend in beautifully in the fall
garden. USDA Hardiness Zones 2 - 9
6. Helenium
(Sneezeweed): Helenium is making a resurgence in gardens. They look like small
russet-toned coneflowers, in reds, yellows and oranges. Many helenium can grow
quite tall and will need to be staked or pinched. Like clematis, they like cool
feet and hot heads. Helenium is also a good choice for poorly drained areas.
USDA Hardiness Zones 3 - 9
7. Helianthus
(Perennial Sunflower): Helianthus is a good natured, jolly plant, branching and
flopping on its neighbors. The brilliant gold fluffy daisy-like flowers make an
instant focal point and attract butterflies and birds. Helianthus tend to be
sterile and can be reproduced by division. USDA Hardiness Zones 3 - 9
8. Heliopsis
(False Sunflower): Heliopsis is very similar to Helianthus. Heliopsis tends to begin
blooming earlier in the season and stays on for 8 or more weeks. Newer
varieties have been bred smaller and sturdier, for less flopping. USDA
Hardiness Zones 3 - 9
9. Sedum
(Stonecrop): Sedum 'Autumn Joy' comes as close to perfection as any plant can.
It looks good all year, requires minimal attention and attracts few problems.
Its only drawback is that it is not deer resistant. 'Autumn Joy' has been
joined in the garden by a growing number of fall wonders like: 'Bertram
Anderson, 'Brilliant' and 'Matrona'. No fall garden is complete without sedum.
USDA Hardiness Zones 3 - 9
10. Solidago
(Goldenrod): Goldenrod is finally getting the respect it deserves, especially
with introductions like 'Fireworks' and 'Golden Fleece'. Unlike the native
solidagos that spread everywhere and never stood up on their own, these newer
varieties are sturdy and chock full of fall blooms. USDA Hardiness Zones 3 - 9
Sometimes Invasive Species Are Good
By Brandon Keim (wired.com)
Invasive
species are the stock villains of conservation biology, disrupting ecosystems
and throwing native populations into disarray. But in certain cases, they’re
actually quite beneficial, and perhaps it’s time to recognize that.
In California,
for example, native butterflies feed on non-native plants. In Puerto Rico,
alien trees help restore abandoned pastures to a condition suitable for native
plants. Even the much-maligned zebra mussel helps filter toxins from lakes.
“We predict
the proportion of non-native species that are viewed as benign or even
desirable will slowly increase over time,” write ecologist Martin Schlaepfer of
the State University of New York and colleagues in a paper published Feb. 22 in
Conservation Biology.
According to
Schlaepfer’s group, biologists are often biased against invasives, and decline
to notice or report instances of beneficial invasions.
They support
their unorthodox perspective by reviewing dozens of papers on plants and
animals introduced, accidentally or otherwise, outside their historical ranges.
A variety of underappreciated invasive roles are described: providing ecosystem
services, replenishing human-damaged regions, and generally helping to sustain
some semblance of natural health even as many ecosystems struggle to survive.
Schlaepfer and
colleagues admit to a certain bias of their own. “Negative roles listed here
are not exhaustive and include only those that directly oppose the listed
positive roles,” they write. “Many of the non-native species listed have other
negative effects on conservation objectives.”
Their goal,
however, isn’t to do a conclusive analysis of the pros and cons of invasives,
but to encourage a more open-minded consideration of benefits — and not just
cost — for species often described in militarized, even xenophobic terms.
After all,
many now-beloved native creatures were once invasives. Among them are dozens of
honeybee species introduced to North America since the 16th century. Far from
declaring war on bees, people now worry that these invading aliens might
vanish.
“Types of Gardeners”
Posted by teejay2039 7a (teejay2039@yahoo.com)
It was too hot
to garden and I was bored so I made a list of the types of gardeners I have
found of the Florida Garden forum. I mean this to be a funny and not serious. I
think the people who post here are the nicest and most helpful on Gardenweb.
See if you can add any more to my list.
"Types of Gardeners on Florida Garden Forum"
1. The
Clueless Gardener, A.K.A."The Beginner": This poster is new to
everything having to do with gardening. He may have recently visited a
neighbor’s fabulous garden or saw a gardening segment on the morning news. For
whatever reason he suddenly has the urge to GROW! He lacks even basic knowledge
of plant biology principles such as the fact plants need light and regular
water to grow. His posts are usually titled "Help me I am a beginner"
or some variation thereof. He would like to know everything there is to know
about gardening in 5 sentences or less. The Clueless Gardener eventually either
evolves into a different gardening type or quickly abandons the idea of
gardening after finding out it involves work, dirt, and sweat. A subspecies of
this type is the Northern Transplant.
2. The
Landscaper: Wants his yard to be perfectly balanced in form, color, and theme.
Is willing to use whatever pesticides and fertilizers necessary maintain his
perfect yard. Has a broad array of gas powered lawn equipment to tend his
lovely St. Augustine lawn.
3. The Zone
Challenger: The Zone Challenger refuses to accept the fact he lives in Florida.
He has no interest in growing plants that thrive naturally in Florida. He
mail-orders hostas, lilacs, peonies, cashew trees, and coconut palms from far
away places. He may, in addition, design the garden to look like and English
cottage garden, a Japanese rock garden, or a garden at a Tuscan Villa.
4. The Martha
Stewart: Her yard looks like it is straight out of Desperate Housewives. Her
garden has the same look of perfection as the landscaper, but has just enough
extra creativity to make it unique and uncopyable. Plants are always in bloom
and never show disease or insect damage. She replaces plants at night under
cover of darkness similar to the way it is done at Disney World.
5. The Yard
Farmer: While not a professional farmer per se, he grows enough crops to feed a
family of four for a year. His bounty includes a nutritional and culinary
balance of many herbs, fruits, and vegetables year round. He may or may not
have livestock.
6. The
Collector: This poster makes it a point to grow one of everything. Due to space
limitations he rarely grows more than one of each plant. His garden lacks a
coherent design or theme, but could serve very well as a college level plant
biology classroom. The Seed Exchange is his favorite Gardenweb forum. He is
always searching for something new to add to his grow list.
7. The
Specialist: He only focuses on growing one type of plant. He may plant a couple
of shrubs to keep the neighbors happy but his real passion is his favorite
plant. He knows the entire history of the development of said plant back to the
Stone Age. He knows every named cultivar and all the current developments in
breeding. He can identify every conceivable pest or disease the plant might
face. Frequently the object of his affection is roses, tomatoes, peppers, or
orchids.
8. The
Ecologist: Knows every theory of organic gardening. Has three kinds of compost
piles because he believes the beneficial merits of each method of composting
are unique. Has several rain barrels linked together in a solar powered pump
system with micro emitters. Raises ladybugs and lacewing insects. Thinks the
term organic pesticides is an oxymoron. Fertilizes with excrement and urine
from various sources. Knows the names of every single bird, turtle, and snake
in his yard.
9. The Forum
Police- They are the keepers of the forum rules. They remind posters when they
should be posting in an alternate forum and advise when photos have exceeded
size guidelines. They post links to earlier discussions on topics.
10. The Pretty
Picture Poster-They post a picture of their garden at least once a day.
Frequently these photos also include cats, dogs, and kids. My favorite poster
type:)
11. Mr.
"I want it all!"- Observes the other types of posters and sees the
merits of each. Attempts to emulate all of them. His mixed results. Drives
himself crazy trying to reconcile the principles of The Ecologist and The
Landscaper. This is me.
Keep the vegetables coming this fall
News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)
Plant more
vegetables! Now is the perfect time to plant cool season crops for fall
harvest. Like a rain dance to the gardening gods, it's like planting hope.
Continuous
planting of vegetable seed needs careful planning. You have to think ahead.
Several beds should have freed up some space after the harvest of the spring
crops like broccoli, garlic and onions, as well as the first summer plantings
of squash, beans and corn.
Clean those
beds out and get them ready for the fall crops. September is a great time to
plant a short season salad mix like lettuce, spinach and mustard greens.
These crops
don't like it too hot. Although it seems hot now, in a few weeks things will be
much different. Cool nights and warm days will quickly push out a leafy mix of
tasty greens.
Plant leaf
lettuce so harvests can be picked several times. Head lettuce varieties may not
grow fast enough to fully develop. Some of my favorite varieties are Red Sails,
Deer's Tongue and Salad Bowl but there are hundreds of varieties out there.
Lettuce comes
in many different shapes and sizes. Some grow loose heads that have large,
broad leaves while others have deep lobes called oak leaf types. They also
range in color from deep, ruby red to a mix of red and green to all green. Grow
many types for an interesting salad or unique garnish.
Another simple
and hardy fall favorite is spinach. It's extremely cold tolerant and is the
easiest cold tolerant crop to over-winter. Spinach comes with smooth or savoyed
(puckered) leaves that offer a more textured look but are harder to clean the
dirt off.
Other members
of the goosefoot family are beets and Swiss chard. It's probably too late to
grow beet roots but you can use the leaves for salads and cooking.
Surprisingly, beets and Swiss chard are not hardy to very cold temperatures and
are nearly impossible to over-winter.
Root crops are
not out of the question though. Two members of the cabbage family, radish and
turnip, grow roots very quickly in autumn. It only takes about a month until
radish harvest and just a bit longer for small, white turnips. Both are very
cold hardy and will live throughout the fall.
Another
mainstay in the fall garden for me is a wide variety of plants collectively
called greens. Some of the more common ones are tat soi, arugula, mizuna, cress
and mache.
These greens
are grown for salad or cooking. They add a unique twist to salad mixes because
of their deep green color and variety of shape, not to mention the taste. Some
are mild and some are spicy hot.
Read the seed
descriptions carefully so you know what you're getting. Some can be extremely
hot and spicy.
Growing
vegetables in colder weather requires some extra inputs. The fertilizer or
compost that you added during the summer is probably spent. The good thing
about compost or manure is that it acts like a slow release fertilizer.
There are some
nutrients available right away and some that are released later when the soil
microbes continue to break down the remaining organic matter. But in the fall
garden the soil is cold and the microbes stop working. You need to add
completely finished compost so most of the nutrients are readily available.
As autumn
progresses some fall crops may need protection from the cold weather. Floating
row cover is a spun-bonded plastic fabric that is used for season extension, frost
protection and insect control.
The lighter
covers, measured in ounces per square yard, are good for early spring crops,
like brassicas, that don't need much cold protection and are at the mercy of
flea beetle attack. The light cover will add 2 to 4 degrees of night
temperature while allowing 85 percent of the light through.
The mid-weight
covers only have 70 percent light transmission but give a frost protection of 4
to 8 degrees. The heavy weight cover will reduce light transmission to 40
percent and is strictly used for frost protection. Plants won't thrive under
such low light.
The heavier fabrics also last much longer, resisting
tears. These fabrics are light enough to rest on the plants without any support
though I use wire hoops that hold the cover one to two feet off the crop to
create a mini greenhouse.
All the crops
mentioned above can be over-wintered. The next step in cold protection is a
cold frame. This is a great way to extend your season even longer or
over-winter crops for early spring harvest.
A cold frame
is a wooden box made of a two-by-twelve on the back and sides and a
two-by-eight on the front. This gives the top a slight angle to it. Place the
frame in a sunny location. Cover with window frames. I got mine from the dump.
If you have
tall trees, consider the location carefully. What is a sunny location in
September might not be in December when the sun is much lower in the sky. Last
year I placed my frame in a location that got seven hours of sun in September.
By Dec. 21, the shortest day of the year, the sun was so low in the sky the
same location was completely blocked from any sun.
As a
comparison, last year I planted scallions, lettuce, spinach and some different
brassicas (Asian mustard greens) like tat soi, bok choi, arugula and mizuna in
the cold frame and under row cover, leaving it for the winter. Only the spinach
survived under row cover. In the cold frame, all the crops survived.
So, for the
vegetable gardens 'second season' the time to start is now.
Horti-Culture Corner
The Oak and the Rose
by Shel Silverstein
An oak tree and a rosebush grew,
Young and green together,
Talking the talk of growing things-
Wind and water and weather.
And while the rosebush sweetly bloomed
The oak tree grew so high
That now it spoke of newer things-
Eagles, mountain peaks and sky.
I guess you think you’re pretty great,
The rose was heard to cry,
Screaming as loud as it possibly could
To the treetop in the sky.
And now you have no time for flower talk,
Now that you’ve grown so tall.
It’s not so much that I’ve grown, said the tree,
It’s just that you’ve stayed so small.
